Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the ...

From the School of Isfahan to the School of Tehran 253
Saxon analytical philosophy. His Knowledge by Presence, which is now
available in English, 51 reveals his philosophical acumen and is the first
work of its kind in English by a traditional Islamic philosopher. Technically
speaking ¡å˘ir¥ belonged to the School of Qom rather than
Tehran but like appleabå†abå˘¥ was related to the School of Tehran, where
he also taught for many years. 52
When one meditates upon the works of appleabå†abå˘¥ and ¡å˘ir¥,
one wonders why a member of the School of Tehran did not write a
response based on the principles of Islamic philosophy to Descartes’
Discourse on Method when this work first appeared in Tehran in the
Qajar period. Had such a criticism come forth, it would have been
more like the response of a Hamann or a von Baader to Descartes
rather than the simple emulation of Cartesianism that we see among
the modernized students of philosophy in Tehran. In any case the
response did not come, and one had to wait a century before serious
Islamic philosophical responses began to appear to various currents of
Western thought. As a result, the School of Tehran became ever more
separated from the concern of modernized circles who turned to
Western thought wholeheartedly becoming Cartesian, as well as
Kantian, Hegelian, Comptian, Marxist, and in more recent decades,
Heideggerian, Popperian, and the like. Even after the Revolution of
1979 intense interest in the Islamic response to Western thought has
not succeeded in weaning all the Persians given to philosophical discourse
away from blind emulation of various currents of Western
philosophy, although interest in Islamic philosophy has certainly grown
even among many followers of Western thought.
Despite this parting of ways in Tehran between traditional and
modern philosophy, the School of Tehran exercised a definite influence
upon Persian philosophical prose in general. Mu±ammad ‘Al¥ Fur¨gh¥,
who translated works of European philosophy including Descartes
into Persian and whose Sayr-i ÷ikmat dar Ur¶på (The Development of
Philosophy in Europe) was the single most influential text in introducing
European philosophy to Persians, was in touch with a number of
living members of the School of Tehran, such as Fa∂¥l-i T¨n¥, M¥rzå
appleåhir Tunikåbun¥, M¥rzå Mahd¥ ≈shtiyån¥, and Sayyid Mu±ammad
Kåπim ‘A∑∑år; and he developed his philosophical style and vocabulary
with their help. Others, who wrote Persian philosophical prose
well, such as Ya±yå Mahdaw¥, were also very well acquainted with
the Persian philosophical texts of the Qajar period, as well as those of
earlier ages. Although of course there was much development of new
vocabulary for the expression of new Western ideas during the Pahlavi
period, there is no doubt that there is a great deal of continuity in the